Fw: Congress Holds Hearing to Raise Awareness of Serious Health Concerns ~ PR Wire

[Guest guest]

----- Original Message -----

From: " Ilena Rose " <ilena@...>

Sent: Wednesday, November 14, 2001 11:56 AM

Subject: Congress Holds Hearing to Raise Awareness of Serious Health

Concerns ~ PR Wire

> ~~~ thanks to Dr. Zuckerman and all the women and

> supporters who have worked so long and hard on this ~~~

>

> http://prnewswire.com/

>

> Congress Holds Hearing to Raise Awareness of Serious Health Concerns

>

>

>

> More Than a Decade After First Hearings, Congress Still Faced with

Questions

> of Breast Implant Safety

>

> WASHINGTON, Nov. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Breast cancer survivors and

scientists

> will testify before a Congressional panel today to express concerns that

poor

> FDA oversight has led to serious health consequences for many women with

> breast implants in the U.S. and to ask that more independent research be

> conducted.

> The hearings come only six months after three government studies

linked

> breast implants to serious illnesses. In May 2001 the National

Institutes of

> Health released two studies linking breast implants to increased rates of

> respiratory and brain cancer and the FDA reported increased rates of

> fibromyalgia, a painful immunological disorder, in women whose implants

had

> ruptured.

> Congressman Roy Blunt (R-MO) will be the first to testify on behalf of

the

> breast implant panel. He became involved in this issue when a constituent

> sought his assistance in her battle to have her problems with breast

implants

> reported to the FDA. Since that time, Representative Blunt has

co-sponsored

> the Breast Implant Research and Information Act asking Congress to mandate

> additional research and better informed consent. The bill also asks that

an

> FDA investigation into Mentor, one of two major breast implant

manufacturers,

> be brought to a close and the findings disclosed to the public.

> Dr. Zuckerman, Executive Director of the National Center for

Policy

> Research for Women and Families (http://www.cpr4womenandfamilies.com )

will

> call for more independent research and better informed consent. She

initiated

> the original breast implant hearings in 1990 when the first reports of the

> serious health implications of implants surfaced.

> Also testifying will be Pamela Noonan-Saraceni, a breast cancer

survivor;

> Kim Hoffman, a woman who has fought for years to alert the FDA that

women's

> problems are going underreported; and McDonough, who played on

The

> Waltons and one of the few actresses who has been vocal about the health

> problems she experienced after receiving breast implants.

> The hearing is being sponsored by the House Energy and Commerce Health

> Subcommittee.

> The Command Trust Network is an information clearinghouse for women

with

> breast implants.

>

> Click here

>

>

> SOURCE Command Trust Network, Inc.

> Web Site: http://www.breastimplantinfo.org

> http://www.cpr4womenandfamilies.com

>

>

>